Electrical computers and other data processing and storage systems with specialized housing for holding an information storage device in an information storage system.
The advent of the personal computer as embodied in the Apple computers and shortly thereafter the IBM PC's, introduced in the late 1970's and early 1980's started a revolution in the computer industry.
The personal computer system includes a video monitor for viewing the data, a keyboard system for entering and manipulating the data, and most importantly, the main housing which is collectively termed the central processing unit, or CPU for short. In the original IBM PC introduced in early 1981, there was in the CPU a space or port for housing a floppy disk drive. The space or port in the CPU allowed for the installation of at least one and usually two floppy disk drives which were installed side-by-side and accessible from the front of the CPU. The shortcomings of a floppy disk drive include the limited amount of information storable on a floppy diskette which was limited to 360 kilobytes of information. The need was apparent to increase the storage capability of the original IBM PC and hence the IBM PC XT was introduced shortly thereafter. The IBM PC XT included on floppy disk drive having a 360 kilobyte storage capability and also a fixed drive permanently installed in the CPU and which was and still is commonly referred to as a Winchester hard drive. This Winchester hard drive was further defined as a 51/4 inch drive and it could hold around 5 megabytes of information. The 51/4 inch Winchester hard drive became and was the standard of the industry for several years. The thickness of the 51/4 inch Winchester hard drive has been reduced by half. The new version is called a half-height 51/4 inch Winchester drive.
Imitators of the IBM PC, also known as clone machines, were introduced to compete with and were compatible with the IBM personal computers. The IBM PC clone manufacturers, likewise, incorporated a Winchester hard drive in the CPU along with a floppy disk drive.
In this rapidly changing technology in personal computer systems, there then arrived on the marketplace what is now termed a hard card which functions like a Winchester hard drive but can be installed in the expansion slots inside the housing or CPU of the computer. Additionally, the Winchester 51/4 inch drive has been succeeded by a smaller more compact unit known as the Winchester 31/2 inch unit. This unit has now become one of the industries' standards in the personal computer area.
The advantages of a hard drive system in a personal computer system are apparent in that the computer is able to store a relatively large volume of data permanently and the data is instantly available for retrieval when the computer is turned on. The 31/2 inch Winchester drive brought down the cost of the hard drive system significantly to the point where the 3-12 inch Winchester hard drive system is less than half of the cost of the original 51/4 inch Winchester drive system as originally installed in the IBM PC XT and AT systems.
The shortcomings of an integrated hard drive system are that any user of that particular computer who has any rudimentary knowledge on how to run and operate a personal computer can turn on the machine and call up and retrieve the permanently stored information in the hard drive. Several businesses have sensitive data and other information in their computer systems which they would like to remain proprietary and non-accessible except by authorized personnel.
The need for a security system and portable system for a hard drive was apparent and accordingly are the primary reasons for the development of the present invention.
The half-height 51/4 inch Winchester drive has many applications other than being wired into a computer for word processing and data processing. The 51/4 inch half-height Winchester hard drive is multiple application in addition to personal computers. The 51/4 inch Winchester half-height drive is now also used in robotics for control systems, in aircraft and in the recording industry for the recording and storage of notes in digital or analog form.